Multisection casing and latch mechanism therefor



March 3, 1970 B. AMMON ETAL 3,498,659

MULTISECTION CASING AND LATCH MECHANISM THEREFOR Filed Jan. e, 1967 INVENTOQS fizz/N0 AM/wo/v lqey N 5e/n/M zj-wwa.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,498,659 MULTISECTION CASING AND LATCH MECHANISM THEREFOR Bruno Ammon and Gary W. Brimm, Decatur, 11]., as-

signors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Jan. 6, 1967, Ser. No. 607,719 Int. Cl. Ec 1/12;G11b 1/00 US. Cl. 292-162 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Multisection casing with a latch mechanism in which a pushbutton is formed on one end of an elongated body having a pair of integral latching tabs and urged by a spring to project the tabs into openings on two casing members to latch them to a central section. Inclined rim walls on the two members are nested on a pair of oppositely inclined rim walls on the central section and the latch ta-bs project through aligned openings in the nested rim walls to latch the members to the central section.

This invention relates to a multisection casing with a latch mechanism for latching two members, such as the speaker sections of a phonograph, to a central section which, in the phonograph would house a record changer.

Accordingly, a general object of the invention is to provide an improved latch mechanism which is simple in operation and constructed from relatively few and inexpensive parts.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a one-piece latch member having a pushbutton and a pair of integral latch tabs spring biased to latch two separate members to a central member carrying the latch mechanism.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel latch mechanism for latching a pair of speaker housings to a record changer.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an assembled phonograph unit and the latch mechanism of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the latch mechanism latching one of a pair of speaker sections to a record changer section;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the latch mechanism on the center section with one of the speaker sections detached from the record changer section; and

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 3.

As disclosed in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the invention is embodied in a multisection casing with a latch mechanism (FIG. 2) for latching a pair of members, such as speaker housings 11 and 12 of a phonograph, to a common center member, which in this instance, is a record changer and turntable section 14 disposed on edge and sandwiched between the speaker housings. The speaker housings are latched in an assembled relationship to the record changer to form an easily portable unit 15 adapted to be carried by a handle 16 attached to the upper edge of the changer section. A pair of spaced pedestal feet 18 are formed on the lower edges of each speaker housing to engage a horizontal surface and support the assembled unit when disposed vertically in the manner shown in FIGURE 1. When in use, the

Patented Mar. 3, 1970 through ninety degrees to rest on its lower side with the record turntable (not shown) disposed horizontally to accept a record disc.

Herein, the speaker housings 11 and 12 are of generally rectangular shape each having a rectangular opening defined by a side wall 24. The record changer section similarly is of rectangular shape with peripheral side walls 20 defining rectangular openings at both ends of the section.

To nest within the side walls 24 of the speaker housings 11 and 12, the peripheral outer side-walls 20 of the changer section are inclined oppositely and outwardly from a central meeting line 21. Each of the outer peripheral sidewalls 24 of each housing 11 and 12 is inclined similarly to one of the sidewalls 20 of the changer section so as to telescope with and overlap such wall when the speakers are assembled on the changer section 14. Thus, the marginal rim wall 24 of each speaker housing nests on an inclined peripheral rim wall 20 of the record changer section 14. Along the lower interior side of each speaker housing wall 24 are formed small domed projections 25 (FIG. 2) spaced and aligned longitudinally to project into openings 26 on the bottom side of the rim wall 20 of the changer section. When telescoping the marginal rims of the speakers on to the central changer walls 20, the lower sides 24 are first nested to insert the projections 25 in the holes 26 as shown at the right in FIGURE 2 and the upper sides are swung inwardly to be latched by the latching mechanism 10, as shown at the right in FIGURE 2.

In accordance with the present invention, a simple and low cost latch mechanism of the push-button kind is provided to cooperate with the nesting casing sections to hold the speaker housings 11 and 12 securely assembled to the central record changer ection 14 while facilitating quick assembly and disassembly of the sections. In this exemplary embodiment of the invention, a pair of latch mechaiiisms 10 are provided adjacent the outer ends of the handle 16 and both pushbuttons 30 are depressed simultaneously to etfect an unlatching of the housings 11 and 12 from the changer section 14.

To achieve low cost and simplicity, each latch mechanism 10 includes a latch member of one piece, plastic construction with an elongated body 31 having the pushbutton 30 at one end and a pair of outwardly spaced, integral latch tabs 32 for projecting through a pair of openings 34 in the inclined walls 20 of the record changer section 14 and through aligned openings 35 in the respective housing walls 24 to hold the same against lateral movement away from the record changer section 14.'The.

latch tabs extend parallel to and are spaced from the elongated body 31 and are integrally connected to the latter by outwardly directed cross arms 36 extending normal to the body and oppositely from each other. Herein, the latch tabs are rectangular in cross section while the elongated body 31 is of cylindrical cross section. Beneath the cross arms, the elongated body is formed with a cylindrical barrel portion 38 about which is encircled a spring 39 which herein is a coiled compression spring under compression between the cross arms 31 and a bracket 41. The latter is secured by screws 42 (FIG.

4) to bosses 43 depending from the underside of the upper center section walls 20 and guides the lower ends of the spring barrel portion 38 which, for the purpose, extends through a hole in the bracket.

The pushbutton end 30 of the elongated latch body 31 extends upwardly through an aperture in the walls 20 of the changer and through an aligned bore 45 in a rectangular mounting pad 46 fastened to the outer side of the recorder changer walls 20 as by a screw (not shown). As best seen in FIGURES 1 and 4 the ends of the handle 16 are fastened to the mOunting pads adjacent to and inwardly of the push buttons 30. When the speaker housings are fully nested on the center section, the outer vertical sides 48 of the mounting blocks are abutted by an edge 49 of the speaker housing wall 24 as shown in FIGURE 2. Herein, an overhanging, outwardly extending flange 50 is integrally formed on the outer edge of the housing wall 24 and hides the tips 47 of the latching tabs 32 projecting upwardly to engage the underside of the flange 50. The flange 50 limits the amount of upward movement of the locking tabs under the urging of the spring 39 when the speaker housings are assembled. When the housings are removed, the latching tabs are able to move slightly upward for engagement of the cross arms 36 with the underside of the walls 20. The spring 39 biases the latch tabs upwardly to the latch position in which the tips 47 of the latter project through the aligned openings 34 and 35 in the overlapping sidewalls 20' and 24, respectively.

With manual depression of the pushbutton 30, the elongated body 31 moves inwardly and compresses the spring 39 and the tips 47 of the tabs 32 move from the latched position to an unlatched position in which the tips are slightly below the outer surface of the walls 20. With the pushbutton 30 fully depressed to a position approximately flush with the top side of its mounting block 46, the tips 47 of the tabs remain in the apertures 34 preventing the latch body 31 from rotating and the tips from swinging under the wall 20. Thus, latch tabs remain within and are guided by the walls of the apertures 34 and are free to rise upon release of the pushbutton.

In this exemplary embodiment, the tips 47 of the la ch tabs are formed with a cam surface 52 which is inclined downwardly and outwardly to be engaged by an inclined cam surface 54 on the rim of each of the speaker housings. As a speaker housing wall 24 is being telescoped on a sidewall 20, its cam surfaces 54 abut the cam surfaces 52 on the latch tabs and, with further lateral, telescoping movement, force the tips of the tabs inwardly into the openings 34. Thus, the speaker cabinet can be latched without depressing the pushbuttons 30, merely by pushing the cabinet laterally to its nested position in which the openings 35 are aligned over the tabs 32, the latter springing upwardly into the openings 35 to latch the housings to the changer section 14.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that a simple and inexpensive latch mechanism is provided to latch two members to a central member. While a preferred embodiment has been shown in the drawings and described herein, it is not intended to limit the invention by such disclosures. Rather, it is intended to cover all modifications and alternative constructions coming within the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. In a multisection casing, the combination of, a central section having a pair of oppositely sloping rim walls,

a first outer section having an inclined rim wall for nesting on one of said rim walls of said central section, and having a latch receiving opening,

a second outer section having an inclined rim wall for nesting on the opposite one of the rim walls of said central section and having a latch receiving opensaid first and second outer section being constructed and arranged so that they may be physically separated from or nest into sandwiching engagement with, said central section,

a latching mechanism carried by said central section for latching both of the outer sections to the center section, said mechanism comprising a latch member having an elongated body and having a pair of integral tabs which, when in a latching position, project into the respective latch openings in the sidewalls of said outer sections to latch the outer sections to said central section when the outer sections are nesting with the central section, a pushbutton integrally formed on the latch member body and extending outwardly from said central section for axial movement to retract said tabs from the latch openings, and means biasing the latch member to its latching position.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which the latch member includes a barrel portion integrally formed with the pushbutton and extending axially and inwardly therefrom, the spring means is a compression spring encircling the barrel, and each of the latch tabs is spaced from and extends-parallel to the body and is attached to the latter by integral cross arms.

3. The combination of claim 2 in which a bracket is disposed in the interior center section with an aperture in the bracket receiving the barrel and in which the spring is compressed between the bracket and said cross arms to urge the latch tabs to their latching position.

4. The combination of claim 1 in which the tabs are formed with outwardly facing inclined cam surfaces, and in which the outer housing sections have cam surfaces for abutting the cam surfaces on the latch tabs and for forcing the latter inwardly of the outer section when assembling the outer sections on the center section.

5. The combination of claim 1 in which means pivotally connect said outer sections to the center section at a po sition opposite the latching mechanism thereby allowing the outer sections to swing their respective inclined rim walls to nest on the rim walls of the center section.

6. In a phonograph, the combination of a record changer section having a pair of opposed sloping rim walls facing outwardly therefrom;

a first speaker housing having a latch receiving opening, andan inclined rim wall for removably nesting into contiguous engagement with one of the rim walls of said record changer section;

a second speaker housing having a latch receiving opening, and an inclined rim wall for removably nesting into contiguous engagement with the other of said rim walls of said record changer section; and

at least one latching mechanism carried by said record changer section for conjointly latching both said first and second speaker housings to said record changer section; said mechanism comprising a spring biased latch member having an elongated body, a pushbutton integrally formed on said body, a pair of opposed crossarms extending laterally outwardly from said pushbutton and a pair of opposed integral tabs connected to said pushbutton by said crossarms;

said tabs being disposed in generally parallel relationship with respect to said pushbutton;

said latch member being disposed adjacent the latch receiving openings of the respective speaker housings when said housings are in nested contiguous engagement with the opposed rim walls of said record changer section so that said tabs are in respective alignment with the latch receiving openings of said housings, and said pushbutton extends outwardly from said record changer section;

whereby actuation of said pushbutton selectively operates said tabs into cooperative relationship with the openings of said speaker housings to latch the first and second speaker housingsinto sandwiched relationship with said record changer section.

7. The phonograph of claim 6 wherein the combination of said record changer section with said speaker housings resembles a suitcase, and said record changer section includes a pair of opposed outwardly extending flanges which overlie said latch receiving openings, thereby to cover the outer ends of said tabs when said speaker housings are latched into engagement with said record changer section.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Richmond 292175 Du Bois 292162 Diedrich 292162 Dawicki 292207 6 2,458,233 1/1949 Wemyss 190 -49 X 1,876,493 6/1932 Frutkow et a1 206-12 1,401,882 12/1921 COzzo 292174 RICHARD E. MOORE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 292175; 312-8 

